City still famous for its Urdu tag

Hyderabad is famous across India for its pearls, Charminar and biryani. And Urdu. Due to the strong foundation laid by the Nizam, Hyderabad still stands on top of the ladder when it comes to Urdu literature and contributions by writers and poets.

Much of the credit goes to Osmania University, the brainchild of Nizam VII Mir Osman Ali Khan, which was the country’s first varsity with Urdu as the main medium of instruction in 1918. The Nizam’s rule was considered the golden era for the Urdu language. Setting up of Osmania University paved the way for students to pursue higher education, even medicine and engineering, in Urdu.

According to former OU professor S.A. Hashmi, who was the key person in establishing the University College of Physical Education, many stalwarts from Hyderabad like P.V. Narasimha Rao, Marri Channa Reddy, K.V. Ranga Reddy, and Makhdoom Mohiuddin did their education in the Urdu medium. This is an indication that Urdu was not restricted to any particular reli- gion and even Hindus pursued it earnestly.

Urdu lost its way after Hyderabad merged with Andhra to form Andhra Pradesh. The rulers shifted the focus towards English and Telugu. The transformation hit Urdu medium students very hard in the late 1950s, when they lost out on government jobs, according to Mr Qamar Jamali, writer and vice-president of Progressive Writers’ Association (UrduHindi).

The then government centred the selection around English, and job aspirants from Andhra who completed their education in English medium, having been under the British rule, outperformed Hyderabad students who did their education in Urdu medium.

“Although it was sidelined in the combined state, Urdu did not lose its significance in the allIndia context. Writers from Old Delhi, Lucknow, Meerut have always acknowledged that Hyderabadi Urdu is the perfect language which does not mix Hindi or other languages. That’s why Urdu authors and writers from Hyderabad are respected in Urdu conferences, seminars held not only in India but across the world,” she said.